Zaire Anderson is one of seven football players set to earn a degree from Nebraska on Saturday.

Photo Courtesy Nate Olsen/Nebraska Communications

Courtesy: NU Athletic Communications

08/15/2014

Lincoln - A total of 12 current and former Husker student-athletes across all sports earned their undergraduate degrees from the University of Nebraska during commencement exercises on Saturday morning at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Coach Bo Pelini’s Nebraska football program provided more than half of the Husker graduates, as seven student-athletes from the program earned degrees. Senior linebacker Zaire Anderson, senior offensive lineman Jake Cotton and junior offensive lineman Kevin Williams entered the 2014 season with their bachelor’s degrees in hand. Anderson and Cotton join safety Corey Cooper as Husker seniors who have graduated prior to the kickoff of the 2014 season. Nebraska’s other 10 senior football student-athletes are all on track to graduate in December of 2013.

Other former Husker football players who claim edtheir degrees on Saturday were Harvey Jackson, Tobi Okuyemi, Andrew Rodriguez and Donovan Vestal, who all completed their Nebraska playing careers in 2013.

Coach Chuck Chmelka’s men’s gymnastics program added a pair of graduates to Nebraska’s class, led by All-American Wyatt Aycock. He was joined by Zach Hedval.

The group of 12 Huskers came to Nebraska from seven U.S. states and the Bahamas, while earning degrees after declaring 10 different academic majors.

Nebraska continues to feature one of the highest graduation rates in the nation, while leading the nation in the number of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans (314) and NCAA Top Ten Award winners (17) across all sports.